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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25129588">Into Dark Night</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Centricide (Webseries)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Vampire, Im not tagging all the relationships in the polycule, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Unhealthy Relationships, just know theres polycule shenanigans, sexy vampire fic to indulge my castlevania loving brain, vampire right unity vs vampire hunter left unity</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:08:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,969</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25129588</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ancap, a vampire lord with Nazi at his side, had been ruling over the land for as long as anyone can remember. Ancom however, drags Tankie into his plans to take down the capitalist- I mean vampire scum and sexy vampire fighting violence ensues.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>ancap/authright, rightist unity - relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“There you go prattling about that ‘killing the humans’ stuff again.” Ancap said, waving his hand while adjusting his glasses. The Nazi scowled at him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“When will you realize how useful they are to us? Do you really want to try convincing other vampires to do our bidding when we have all the humans we could ever need to do our work for us?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s not about that, they’re a poison to our fucking world and I’ll go through my plan whether you like it or not” Nazi said through gritted teeth and with clenched fists. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You know I can’t let you go through with that, my dear Nazi” Ancap said </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What’re you going to do about it?” Nazi said while scowling at him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’ll kill you if you interfere with what’s best for us and more importantly, me” Ancap said with a calm tone and a quiet laugh, neither of which matching the threat he just made. Nazi knew the crazy bitch would keep his word on that and he bit his tongue. </em>
</p><p>It had been months since that conversation had happened and yet every so often it came back to the surface of the Nazi’s mind. Right now it has been when he was standing at Ancap’s side while the other sat in his throne at the head of a long dining table. He swirled a glass of wine in his hand while talking to the other vampires seated around him, all the while letting his free hand touch the Nazi’s thigh.</p><p>“Oh dear? Do you mind waiting in my bedchambers for me while I finish up?” Ancap asked, more of a demand really, with a careless flick of his wrist to wave him off. The vampire gave a knowing look and a smile to the rest of the table and they all shared a laugh while Ancap ordered for one of his servants to clear his spot at the table. Nazi would’ve made a scene about this show of absolute fucking degeneracy but instead he nodded and left the man’s side to head to his room. As he stepped out he could hear the others laughing to themselves and he gritted his teeth hard enough to make his jaw ache. He tried his best to focus on making his way through long dimly lit corridors and instead of the bright red flashing behind his eyes every time he thought about that interaction in the dining hall, every interaction he had with the man.</p><p>He absolutely hated him, the way he was treated as a pet or a toy, something for his amusement rather than a business partner. At least he wasn’t anything below that, like one of the many human servants (slaves to be more accurate) or living blood bags to feed off of. He should be happy to be where he is now, but he can’t help being frustrated and loathe every interaction with the vampire lord.  </p><p>As he neared the end of this hallway he came back to his senses and turned to where he should’ve been heading. The door that was just up ahead. He nearly forgot about what he was doing while trying to calm himself down. His hand reached for the ornate door handle and turned it, pushing the door open and shutting it behind him as he stepped inside. The Nazi let out a sigh once he was alone in the bedroom despite it nearly being worse than the dining hall he was just in.</p><p>Out of all the rooms in Ancap’s palace, this one was the most, uh, lavish I suppose the Nazi could call it. The man knew this room more than he did his own bedchambers, every detail in the man’s bed sheets and the decorative curtains that hung around it, the taste of his pillowcases that he nearly had bitten through on several instances. He took a deep breath and took off his coat before hanging it on a hook beside the door, his cap too. He ran a hand through his hair to straighten it and took a seat on Ancap’s bed before kicking his shoes off. He took a moment to enjoy being alone.</p><p>“Sorry for keeping you waiting, dear” A voice called. Ancap stood in the doorway taking his hat and glasses off before walking to one of the end tables beside his bed to set them down. The man sat next to the Nazi, loosened his tie and unbuttoned his blazer before taking both off to carelessly drop to the floor, his servants would take care of it later. He looked at the Nazi with a squint and a smile that flashed his fangs to him. The Nazi sighed and came closer before hooking a leg over the other’s lap and bringing their hips closer together.</p><p>“I could use a little help from you after the long day I’ve had.” Ancap sighed with his hands running over the Nazi’s thighs. He gave the man on his lap a look and a slight pout and the Nazi gritted his teeth before leaning down and kissing him. Ancap wasted no time in forcing the Nazi to part his lips so he could shove his tongue past them and the Nazi could taste the wine he had earlier that evening.</p><p>——</p><p>In a dark pub much further away from the gaudy palace of a certain vampire lord, a man sat tucked away in his booth. He had a large pint in his hand which he took a drink from and scowled as he wasn’t used to the taste of this, much preferring vodka over a weak and room temperature ale. As he glanced around he noticed the usual groups of people that frequented this place but overall it was quite empty tonight. The sound of a man plucking his guitar that barely covered the sound of the building creaking as strong wind blew over it, the low lighting from the very few lanterns in the place, it all set the tone for what could be expected from this place on a night like this. The front door squeaked open and drew the attention of the man as he watched a hooded figure walk in. They gave a quick look at everyone in the room before spotting the man and nodded before ordering a drink and walking over.</p><p>“Anarkiddy…” He said. The figure wordlessly sat down across from him. “You always like to hate on me but yet again, you come to me for help.” The person bore a mask that covered their entire face with the exception of two eye holes so it was hard to tell their expression but the squint that was visible told the man that they were probably annoyed. A waitress brought over the drink they ordered and the figure paid and waited until she left to respond.</p><p>“I didn’t ask you to meet me here so you could be a dick, this is a serious matter.” The figure reached for the hood of their robe to pull it back and shake their head to get their hair to fall back into place. Aside from the mask, they also wore a very ornate green robe with a tunic underneath and several belts with weapons and satchels attached. The regular outfit of the rogue-like Ancom, always perhaps a little too much for the Tankie’s taste.</p><p>“You could’ve asked any of my family to do this job, they’re all skilled hunters as well.” Tankie said as he leaned back in his seat with a hand behind his head.</p><p>“I know what you want me to say and I will admit, you’re the most skilled in your family and the best for this...” Ancom said with a glare. Tankie smirked and straightened himself in his seat</p><p>“Alright, let’s talk about this job.” He said. Ancom sighed and rolled quis eyes, only amusing the communist more.</p><p>“I’m sure you know that one of Ancap’s men is causing trouble in the west but this time he’s alone and Ancap and Nazi won’t be there to mess anything up.” Ancom said as qui rummaged through the bag rested on the seat next to him and pulled out a map. “He’s human too, another human working for them. It should be easy to take him out so my group and I are planning to strike soon. We need your help for this too, you’re the muscle we need for this.”</p><p>“I see.”</p><p>“We know you don’t care too much for money as a payment but Anarcho-Monarchist is willing to let you expand your village in his territory if you help out.” Qui added. Tankie nodded and chewed his lip for a moment.</p><p>“It’s a deal” He said before downing more of his drink and wiping his upper lip. Qui’s eyes squinted in a way that made it clear qui was smiling under quis mask.</p><p>“Great, you know where to find us. I expect to see you there tomorrow night to discuss the rest of this.” Ancom said as qui packed the map away and stood up. Qui downed the rest of their drink and was gone as quickly as qui appeared. Tankie just smiled to himself and took another sip before relaxing in his seat. He wanted to enjoy himself before the eventful nights he was sure were to come with Ancom’s plan.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Illusionary Dance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tankie was here as he said he would be, at the front door of the anarchists’ hideout. </p>
<p>The place, tucked away underneath a pub in a small village, just a gross mildewy apartment to anyone who looked at it. The front door had been firmly locked when Tankie tried to open it. He curled his hand into a fist and began to knock and almost immediately a little slit in the door at about eye level slid open. </p>
<p>“Who are you?” The person on the other side asked. </p>
<p>“Authcom, Commie, Tankie, whatever... Ancom told me to come.” Tankie said back. The eyes squinted at him.</p>
<p>"You know who I am!" Tankie snapped at him. The narrowed eyes still glared at him and the peephole slid shut. Tankie could hear faint arguing for a moment before the door clicked open and he could finally head inside</p>
<p>“I don’t get why Anfash is here, isn’t he the same kind as your enemies?” Tankie said as he stepped inside and shrugged off his cloak. Anfash, the one standing guard at the door hissed at him, baring fangs. </p>
<p>“He’s useful sometimes. Be polite.” Anarcho-monarchist said with a wave of his hand. </p>
<p>“The piece of shit vampire is lucky I don’t want to cause any trouble tonight. I’m strict about killing all the vampire scum I come across.” He said back with a scowl. Anfash only glared back at him. </p>
<p>“You’re early, that's a first.” Ancom called out as qui entered the room. Qui was in much more casual attire compared to the last time Tankie had seen quem. Qui still had the mask that fully covered quis face though, he wasn’t even sure if he had seen quem without it. </p>
<p>“Anarkiddy, aren't you supposed to be advocating for anarchy? Why are you always so picky about time? Perhaps to me, your schedule is an unjust hierarchy.” Tankie said back with a smile.</p>
<p>“That’s not what an unjust- Oh shut up don’t be an asshole.” Ancom said, hoping to cut their bickering short to get to more important things. Qui sat down on the couch in the middle of the room, laying a map out on the coffee table and knocking over a few pens and loose papers in the process. Tankie took his cue to sit down in one of the several chairs surrounding the table. He looked at the other anarchists gathered around, monarchist, primitavist, nihilist, pacifist, and queer anarchist. Almost all the usual group were there, well, and anarcho-facist was seemingly necessary too. </p>
<p>“I thought you were a pacifist, what's with you joining this fight?” Tankie asked Anarcho-Pacifist, the one he was sitting next to. </p>
<p>“I’m not a fighter at all, I’m a healer. I’m fine with being a part of this as long as I’m not expected to hurt anyone.” They said back with a smile “It’s good to see you around here again, it’s been a while.” </p>
<p>“You’re always a nice face to see here compared to the rest of your comrades.” Tankie said with a smile and a blush growing on his face at the anarchist’s kindness. </p>
<p>“Compared to the rest of your comrades, huh? Quite rude in my opinion.” Anarcho-Monarchist said, taking a seat next to the communist. Tankie only laughed under his breath in response. </p>
<p>“What can you expect from him? He’s always been an asshole to us.” Anarcho-Nihilist said, chewing on the matchstick in his mouth. “He can’t get his head out of his ass enough to be nice to any non-authoritarian.” He added, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall. </p>
<p>“Can’t we just get along for a moment? He’s trying to help us” The pacifist pleaded. The rest of the anarchists quietly talked amongst themselves for a second.</p>
<p>“I’m right here you know.” Tankie said. Anarcho-Nihilist rolled his eyes and took a seat before spitting out the match on the ground. Tankie scowled at the unsanitary action. </p>
<p>“None of you know any manners…” He said under his breath. Tankie watched as Ancom finished setting all the pieces to quis diagram, bottle caps and matches representing the parts of their group on the map. It was a messy and yet charming way of the Anarchist taking lead and Tankie smiled to himself. </p>
<p>“We have everyone here, right?” Ancom said looking around. The group nodded and qui smiled before sitting up on the couch. “Fellas, I think we have the perfect plan to take down one of Ancap’s most powerful human work partners.” Qui said as an introduction to quis plan.</p>
<p>“Homonationalist has headed out west and some of my people getting information from the inside have said he’s heading to Ancap’s other palace there along with a couple of escorts.” Qui said with quis finger pointing to the part of the map with the palace Ancom mentioned. It was on top of an island-like land mass, surrounded with nothing but trenches that circled around it and a singular bridge connecting the palace to the surrounding area. Quis finger dragged over said bridge </p>
<p>“This is the only way in and out, we’re going to head in a few days from now at sunset, that’s when Homonat should be arriving. Once his carriage crosses, Nihilist detonates the bridge behind him with us on their territory. From there we can carry out with killing him without anyone else joining in.” Qui finished with a smile. Tankie scratched his chin as he thought over the information Ancom gave him.</p>
<p>“The bridge is the only way in and out of the palace, how will we escape after?” He asked. </p>
<p>“I don’t know exactly but it’s something we’ll have to figure out then, this is too good of an opportunity to waste.” Ancom said back. Tankie was dissatisfied with the answer.</p>
<p>“We may be able to take the vampire scum down a peg by taking Homonat out but then the guards of this place will kill all of us. You’re risking losing your entire group for this small victory.” Tankie said, growing bitter. He didn’t want to do something this dangerous on a whim like Ancom always ended up doing. </p>
<p>“You’re underestimating how strong my group can be.” Ancom snapped back. Tankie just glared at quem</p>
<p>“Guys-” The pacifist said quietly, raising their hands. </p>
<p>“Look I’m out of this deal if you don’t figure something out. I don’t want to get killed over this.” Tankie said. Ancom sighed and looked down at the pieces on quis map, thinking for a moment. </p>
<p>“I’ll figure something out, when we leave tomorrow we’ll still have a few days of travel out so I can come up with something. Let’s just discuss what we’re going to do to actually kill him.” Ancom said to continue the conversation. Tankie nodded, satisfied enough with that answer for now. </p>
<p>They continued discussing their plans for the coming days over the next hour. As time passed thick clouds obscured the moon and a heavy rain began to pour down onto the roof of the hideaway. Well, it was a basement the anarchists stayed in so it didn’t have the same feel as rain hitting your roof but the energy still hung in the air. </p>
<p>Cool air from the outside snuck in and made Tankie wrap the furs around his shoulders closer to himself. At one point the pacifist started a fire and the meeting moved to the fireplace as the group huddled together near the warmth. As Ancom finished quis discussion and cleaned up, the Monarchist started a pot of tea and passed mugs around. </p>
<p>“It’s getting late, are you sure you should head home now?” Anarcho-Pacifist said with a gentle hand resting on Tankie’s back as they sat on the ground next to the fire.</p>
<p>“I’m too far from home and we need to meet tomorrow so I wasn’t planning on heading back. I was just going to camp out under a tree or something.” He said, pressing the mug to his lips and taking a sip of the tea. </p>
<p>“In this weather I won’t be able to start a fire but I’ve survived worse.” After he finished he glanced at the pacifist to see them with a look of concern on their face.</p>
<p>“Why not stay at a tavern? I’m sure some are still open at this hour.” They said.</p>
<p>“A tavern keeper is no better than a leaching landlord. I don’t want to pay for that” Tankie said with a frown. Pacifist sighed </p>
<p>“Well you know we always have room for you here” They said. They got up and went to the other side of the room to the washbasin and put their mug down. Pacifist knew the communist was always much too humble to ask to stay with them but it was worth a shot.</p>
<p>“Alright, just for tonight I suppose that couldn’t hurt.” Tankie said with a quiet exhale as he tugged the furs on his shoulders closer to himself. Anpac smiled </p>
<p>“Great! I’m just gonna grab some blankets and stuff for you.” They said as they walked over and rested a hand on Tankie's shoulders as they passed him. Tankie nodded and curled more into his seat</p>
<p> </p>
<p>------</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I envy you, Nazi” Ancap said looking out over his balcony. “It’s been some time since I’ve been able to fully enjoy a sunrise like this.” The rain had stopped hours ago and the clouds had cleared away to reveal a now crisp blue sky. Ancap had a wide brimmed hat as he stood outside to keep him from being burnt by the sunlight. He had called for the Nazi to come out this early to chat with him over coffee and tea. Well, the Nazi was certainly drinking coffee but he knew what Ancap had in his mug wasn’t either of those beverages.</p>
<p>“I’m certain you know about me sending Homonationalist to my castle on the western border.” Ancap said as he lifted the mug up and took a sip, licking red off his lips when he pulled it away. The Nazi nodded and took a drink of his own drink as he waited for Ancap to continue speaking.</p>
<p>“I’m having him lead an attack on the kingdom just next to my land there.” Ancap said with a smile. “I haven’t told you about it yet, I’ve only discussed it with my generals but the attack is happening in a few days around nightfall.” </p>
<p>“He’s leading it?” Nazi asked with a raised eyebrow. </p>
<p>“I’ve been meaning to promote him, I’m using this as a test, I suppose.” The vampire said “For some time I’ve been planning to strike the neighboring kingdom. Expanding in the west will be great for us” Yeah, “us” meaning Ancap, of course.</p>
<p>“He’s human though, wouldn’t it be more… uh… efficient to have a vampire lead the attack?” The Nazi asked. </p>
<p>“That’s the best part of all this, I’m having him turned the day he arrives there.” Ancap said with a wide, unsettling smile. “I can’t go into it too much though, it’s an experiment I and my generals are trying. It’s something you couldn’t understand” He added in a sweet, condescending tone. </p>
<p>Oh of course, the man who had been working for Ancap in half the time the Nazi had been would be promoted before him. He bit the inside of his cheek, hard enough that he tasted the sting of blood in his mouth. He had been sucking up to Ancap for so long only for that fucking degenerate to get what he’d been working towards. His grip on his mug tightened and his hand started to shake. All the Nazi wanted to do in that moment is swing it across Ancap’s head and hear a satisfying fucking shatter. All of this for treating him like a fucking pet</p>
<p>“We’ll be heading out soon, it shouldn’t take too long to arrive there.” Ancap said with a smile. His foot nudged Nazi’s under the table. “It’ll be like a little vacation for us~” He added on in a sultry voice with his smile widening. Nazi had to hold back the urge to kick his leg away.</p>
<p>“Anyways, I suppose that’s all the news I have for now.” Ancap said with a smile before he swallowed down the remaining drink in his mug. Nazi took a shuddering breath, willed himself to seem outwardly calm and gave a smile to Ancap.</p>
<p>“You’re dismissed, I don’t need you for anything else today so you may do as you please. I already have one of my maids packing for you so you don’t need to worry about that, dear.” Ancap stood, snapping his fingers a few times to call a servant over to clean up for him. </p>
<p>He reached towards Nazi and gently brushed his cheek with cool fingertips before leaning down and catching his lips in a kiss. His lips were cold, his body colder as he pressed himself to the other man. Nazi had to hold back the urge to wretch</p>
<p>"I'll see you later" Ancap said as he pulled away with a soft smile.</p>
<p>"Right."  When Nazi licked his lips he could taste blood. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>---</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tankie had woken up much earlier than the rest of the group and stood outside, pipe pressed between his lips. He inhaled a great lungful of smoke and exhaled a thick cloud of it as he pulled the pipe away.</p>
<p>“I didn’t take you to be a morning person.” He heard a voice call from behind him, he didn’t need to look to know it was Ancom. </p>
<p>“It’s hard to sleep for long in a crowded room like that.” Tankie, along with many others who didn’t live with Ancom, slept on the living room floor with their blankets and sleeping bags. Unlucky for Tankie, where he slept was at Anfash’s feet where he was kicked in the face several times throughout the night. </p>
<p>Ancom now stood at his side, qui in quis regular attire, robe, mask, and all. Qui held his hand out and Tankie handed quem the pipe and looked to see how qui would smoke from it with the mask. Qui pulled the mask away from the lower half of quis face to reveal a glimpse of soft lips as qui took the pipe in quis mouth. A thick stream of smoke escaped qui’s lips as qui exhaled, just before breaking into a fit of coughs.</p>
<p>“I thought that would be something else, not tobacco... Christ…” Qui said as the pipe was placed back into the hand Tankie didn’t realize he was still holding out to Ancom. Tankie’s quiet staring was interrupted with him scrunching his nose in disgust at the anarchist.</p>
<p>“I forget what you anarchists do when you’re not out causing a scene.” Tankie said as he lifted the pipe back to his lips and sucked in another lungful of smoke.</p>
<p>“Yeah whatever, don’t get all preachy on me about drugs. We both know you don’t have any issue with alcohol and tobacco and that crap does way more damage than some weed.” Ancom said</p>
<p>“Yeah well-” </p>
<p>“I said don’t get preachy.” Ancom said with qui’s hand clapping over Tankie’s shoulder. “Maybe you won't act like you have a huge stick up your ass if you tried it out. I’ll go roll you a joint” </p>
<p>“Hey!” Tankie snapped. Ancom laughed and rubbed his shoulder before pulling quis hand away </p>
<p>“I’m kidding, I’m kidding." Ancom said. Tankie just rolled his eyes and continued to smoke. </p>
<p>"Right and uh, we'll be getting ready to leave as soon as the others wake up." Ancom said before leaving Tankie to himself </p>
<p>The rest of that morning carried on with the the group waking up one by one. Ancom was already close to done with packing as qui had started after the interaction with Tankie. Qui loaded their cargo onto their horses and in the one wagon they’d be taking along as well. Tankie was surprised to see how qui lifted bags and boxes with seemingly little effort, lifting some of the larger ones with a single arm like it was nothing. </p>
<p>“I see that you don’t have your own horse.” Anarcho-Monarchist said. “Suppose you’ll be riding on the wagon or sharing a horse with someone.” </p>
<p>“I can walk perfectly fine.” Tankie said back with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Anarcho-Monarchist let out a laugh that only annoyed him further. </p>
<p>“Right, I’d like to see you keep up with us.” The communist just rolled his eyes and brought a piece of straw to his mouth to chew on.</p>
<p>“Good morning!” A cheery voice called from next to him, startling Tankie. A piece of a bread loaf was tossed to him and he scrambled to catch it before it hit the ground. The pacifist just smiled at him and began eating their own piece of bread.</p>
<p>“I baked that yesterday, you should eat before we head out.” They said. The communist just nodded and took the straw from his mouth to bite a piece off. It was warm, like the pacifist had heated it in their oven for a moment before giving it to him and seemed to melt in his mouth as he ate it. </p>
<p>“It’s been so long since I’ve left this cramped town! I can’t wait for our little trip” Anarcho-Pacifist said with the same cheerful attitude they always had. </p>
<p>“Remember why we’re going on this, I don’t think killing a vampire lord’s general is a thing you should be too happy about.” Tankie said back. The pacifist frowned and pouted. </p>
<p>“You’re no fun…” They whined before flicking his nose. “You gotta… uh… see the good in situations. We’re going to be passing through one of my favorite forests to hike through, I’m looking forward to it a lot.” They said with a smile that was so kind it made the communist’s cheeks warm.</p>
<p>“Well it’s easy for you to say that, I doubt you’ll be the one to do most of the fighting.” He said with a smirk </p>
<p>“Hey! You don’t know how hard healing magic can be!” Tankie rolled his eyes at that and laughed </p>
<p>“I don’t, I don’t know a single thing about magic but it can’t be that hard” He responded. The Pacifist squinted at him and pouted his lips. A loud crashing could be heard near them and Tankie turned to see Anfash with a pile of bags and boxes dropped at his feet. Moments later Nihilist started to yell and the pacifist began to shift uncomfortably.</p>
<p>“I’m- I’m gonna go deal with that.” He said, giving the communist an awkward smile before running over. "I'll talk to you later!"  Tankie just laughed under his breath at the commotion and gave a little wave goodbye. He brought the bread in his hand up to his mouth before biting into it, holding it like that as he began to make himself a little more useful.</p>
<p>As they finished packing, each anarchist loaded onto their respective horses while the communist sat, waiting for someone to tell him what he should be doing at that moment. </p>
<p>“Well are you gonna hop on or not?” Ancom said to him. Tankie looked to see Ancom staring at him, quis head tilted. </p>
<p>“On your horse?”</p>
<p>“Well of course, you don’t have your own do you?” Ancom said. Tankie stepped closer and thought for a moment. </p>
<p>“I… We can’t both fit on it right?” He said. Ancom rolled quis eyes and placed a hand on Tankie’s back, grabbing a handful of his shirt and lifting until he was on the balls of his feet. He smacked quis hand away</p>
<p>“Hey! I- I can get on just fine.” Tankie yelled in a startled tone of voice. He grabbed onto the saddle of the horse, pulling himself up with quite a struggle, his feet kicking for some sort of ground as he tried to get seated on the thing. </p>
<p>Ancom laughed for a moment before moving quis horse to the front of the group. Qui tugged on the reins and quis horse stood for a moment on its hind legs. Tankie panicked and wrapped his arms around Ancom to keep from falling off. Ancom laughed again, much quieter as quis horse landed back on its front hooves. </p>
<p>“Are you trying to get me to fall off?” Tankie asked, sounding pissed from the sound of his voice.</p>
<p>“Maybe” Ancom said with another laugh. Qui raised a hand to signal to the rest of the group that they would begin to move forward and start their voyage. </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Nocturne in the Moonlight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Night had fallen around the anarchist’s makeshift campsite, the only light being that from the small fire the group huddled around to stay warm. At this point the group of vampire hunters had strayed miles away from their homes, into woods far different from the ones they were used to. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Tankie sat huffing his pipe, a large black bird flew from above and seated itself on Ancom’s lap before shifting into the more familiar Anarcho-Facist. Tankie shot him a pissed off look as the vampire still stayed straddled on Ancom thighs. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did you see anything weird?” Ancom asked </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know? How much did you offer to pay me for this?” Anfash asked. Ancom rolled quis eyes before reaching into quis pocket and pulling out a small pouch, digging around in it for a moment before retrieving a few small coins. Anfash took them and moved from where he was sitting on quis lap.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Right. Yeah anyways I found Homonat’s carriage and kinda listened in for a while. Seems like there’s gonna be some kind of party when he arrives at Ancap’s palace or whatever you said it was.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Party? What do you mean by that?” Ancom prodded him</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I dunno! It seems like Ancap’s heading there too and that the degenerate is gonna get promoted or something.” Anfash said while picking at something on his pants. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You idiot… I’m paying you to do this crap.” Ancom said. Anfash just shrugged </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah yeah whatever. All you need to know is that there’s gonna be some ball or something the day he arrives.” Anfash said</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"This whole ball thing… that sounds kinda important. Y’know if we ditched the whole ‘blowing up the entrance to the palace thing’ we could just sneak in as guests or something and get our job over with”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well what’s the fuckin’ point of bringing the demolition guy if you’re just gonna skip the blowing shit up part” Nihilist said as he listened in from the other side of the campfire. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, no, Tankie has a point. That actually sounds like a way better idea” Ancom said with a wave of quis hand. "We might just have to find some fitting clothes or whatever and that’s it, really. Still if Ancap’s gonna be there…" Qui cut quemself off for a moment to think "We have more to figure out before we get there” Tankie nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I like this a lot more,” Tankie said as he leaned back a little, crossing his arms</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s gonna be weird seeing you without that barbaric vampire hunting outfit.” Ancom said “You might actually look nice if you cleaned yourself up more” Qui added to tease him</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s gonna be weird seeing you without that mask. Sure you gotta fuckin’ take that off so everyone doesn’t immediately recognize you as that infamous anarchist vampire killer or whatever” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ancom reached up and pressed quis fingertips over the smooth surface of quis mask and though for a moment</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I still don’t like the idea of showing my face off but I’ll figure something out.” Ancom replied. Tankie just nodded silently. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The group moved about, doing their own little things and keeping themselves busy. It was a weird silence. It wasn’t that it actually was quiet, there was the lingering hum of the anarchists talking amongst themselves and little noises like Anarcho-Primitivism carving something out of bone, a few nocturnal birds making noise deep in the thicket of the woods, Coyotes deeper in the mountains. It wasn’t actually quiet but all the noise could easily be pushed to the back of Tankie’s mind as he thought to himself. He took in everyone around him</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anqueer and Anpac were talking, Anpac with loose white robes draping off them and their head resting on the other’s shoulder. Anqueer had a hand running through the pacifist’s hair as they listened to the other speaking in a soft tone that brought a blush to Tankie’s cheeks and a warmness to his heart. He understood why they had always taken the role of the healer in their group, they had a natural nurturing aura to them that already felt healing without the use of magic. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anqueer on the other hand was much more calloused. Tankie had remembered the few times he had argued with them over things he thought were much too trivial to care so much about. What was it that Anqueer had said? “Fuck around and find out”? Well that phrase seemed to describe them perfectly. Always so eager to get into fights about random nonsensical bullshit. They were also a magic user like Anpac but Tankie wasn’t too sure about what it was they specialized in. The one time Tankie had made the mistake of getting into an argument with them about pronouns, they made his mind explode, his vision breaking and fragmenting into surreal hallucinations that even now he had a hard time putting words to them to describe them. It was some flavor of psychological magic that he imagined would be similar to some kind of hallucinogenic drug the anarchists were so obsessed over. Tankie could understand how useful it could be, considering how he was rendered completely useless for an hour or two after that incident.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It seemed like Anprim had finished whatever he was carving. Tankie watched as he stood and began to walk towards Anarcho-Monarchist. The man held a dagger that was much too clean and ornate to be his, Tankie guessing that it actually belonged to the monarchist and that he had only been borrowing it. In his other hand he held the piece of bone he had been carving. He sat down next to the monarchist, handing over both the knife he used to carve and the piece he carved. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh! How lovely! You did this yourself, my dear?” The monarchist said, his words twirling as they left his mouth like they always would when he spoke. The Anprim nodded and cupped his hands around the other’s, brushing a calloused thumb over the back of them. Tankie couldn’t see what it was that he had made but the monarchist turned it in his hand and leaned in to give his partner a soft kiss. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You smell awful, I can’t wait for when we find a river or something, you smelly fool” He said, giggling. Anprim laughed as well and pressed himself closer, hugging the monarchist.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No! No! Don’t get closer! It smells worse!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anarcho Primitivist was some kind of barbarian like Tankie was. While they both had some kind of weapon on them at all times, Tankie his sword and his chain whip, Primitivist his club, they still both were much better with their hands. Fighting with brute strength rather than skilled weapon. The anarchist was still much stronger than he was. Tankie had joked one time that it might be because anprim was closer to primate than human and that had earned him a hard smack on the back of the head from Ancom. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Monarchist on the other hand was only trained in swords and the skilled and dance-like combat that came with them. It made him useful for one on one fights but there was a reason he always fought with the team of anarchists, he would be terrible against more than one opponent. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tankie had turned his attention to Anarcho Nihilist who was messing with some kind of explosive device in his hands, a timed bomb, Tankie guessed. Tankie wasn’t sure why he even had to mess with timed devices, the nihilist was skilled with pyrokinesis or whatever you would call fire magic. If the nihilist could light a campfire from an incredibly far distance, why couldn’t he just detonate something from a distance at whatever time he wanted without messing with complicated wiring? Tankie had asked him before and Anarcho Nihilist had given him a long explanation about how there was some sort of art to designing his bombs. Tankie had just rolled his eyes and said he should put that effort into something better. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anarcho Facist was curled up next to him, head resting on his thigh like a pillow as he watched the nihilist working on his bomb. The man was a vampire, that Tankie knew. He had some sort of shapeshifting ability that Tankie had only seen a handful of times. He could change into a large crow and some kind of wolf or dog but Tankie wasn’t sure if he could change into anything other than that. He wasn’t entirely sure why the man continued to work with a group of people that killed his kind. Maybe he was in it for the anarchism, for dismantling vampire dictators and whatnot, not necessarily the killing of said vampires. Tankie never could be too sure about the intention of anarchists.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tankie closed his eyes for a moment and took one last huff from his pipe before dumping the contents to the floor and putting them out with the sole of his boot. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We should probably head to bed soon if we plan on leaving early tomorrow.” Tankie said, turning his head to face Ancom. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s probably a good idea…” Ancom stretched quis arms above quis head before looking at Tankie, eyes squinting under the mask in that specific way that Tankie could tell meant qui was smiling. “I trust you’re fine sleeping by the fire, unless you want to sleep in the carriage with me? I think the others might be up for a bit longer.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah… uh, I’m fine with sharing with you or something.” Tankie said as he stood. Ancom nodded</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’re leaving as soon as I wake up, don’t stay up too late.” Qui said to the group with a little wave of quis hand before ducking under the curtain that covered the carriage’s entrance. Tankie took a moment to take his boots off before heading inside too. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Tankie entered, Ancom already had quis mask off, facing away from him and was in the process of taking off quis shirt. Tankie sputtered for a moment and averted his gaze, making Ancom laugh. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh please, like it's nothing you haven’t seen before” Ancom said before flinging quis top at Tankie’s head and quickly covering quis face again before Tankie could see. Tankie rolled his eyes and began to scoot himself closer to the simple hay mattress covering the floor of the carriage. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tankie lied back and stretched his arms over his head before shutting his eyes for a moment. He heard Ancom moving on the other side of the carriage before qui collapsed on their bed next to him. Tankie opened his eyes and watched as Ancom began to fidget with a little metal container before pulling out a small piece of paper. As Ancom began to pour the substance onto the paper and roll it, Tankie glared at quem.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What? I’ll poke my head out or something, you don’t have to smell it.” Ancom said. Tankie rolled his eyes and sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No it’s fine, I don’t care…” Tankie mumbled before lying back down. He heard the sound of Ancom moving about more and the sound of a match striking before the stench of burning weed filled the space. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a moment of Ancom silently smoking, Tankie sat back up and silently reached his hand towards Ancom. Ancom chuckled and handed the joint to him and Tankie lifted it to his lips before sucking in a lungful and coughing it out a moment later. He took another hit before handing it back to Ancom and pulling his legs to his chest as he sat and let his mind get fuzzier over the next few minutes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How’re you feeling?” Ancom asked after qui let out a cloud of smoke and handed the joint back to Tankie. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine…” Tankie said quietly before putting it to his lips. “It feels nice…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“See? I knew you’d like it if you actually gave it a shot. It’s like uh… being drunk without feeling sick after.” Ancom said with a quiet laugh. Tankie hummed and scooted closer before resting his head on Ancom’s shoulder. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah it feels a lot better than being drunk” Tankie said, handing the joint back to Ancom. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s been some time since we’ve been together for something that wasn’t a vampire” Tankie mumbled quietly “I can’t believe I’m actually saying this but… I missed you… I really did” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I- Yeah I missed you too” Ancom said back before taking a hit “You must be really high if you’re getting all sappy on me right now” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not… it’s just something I’ve been thinking about.” Tankie replied. Ancom stayed quiet for a moment and lifted quis mask a little and sucked in a hit through qui’s joint. Qui’s eyes locked with Tankie’s for a second, just before Ancom puffed smoke in his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tankie sputtered and leaned back while fanning smoke away. He snatched the joint out of Ancom’s hand and moved closer to quem.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You fucking dick-” Ancom laughed as qui leaned away. Tankie let out a quiet laugh before sucking in a lungful of smoke and grabbing Ancom’s jaw, forcing quem to look at him as he blew smoke in qui’s face. Ancom’s hands reached out to push Tankie away but the motion stopped halfway through with qui just resting quis hands on his chest. Ancom looked back up at Tankie’s face and swallowed under qui’s mask.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your eyes are really bloodshot.” Ancom muttered</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yours too” Tankie licked his lips. His grip on Ancom’s jaw loosened and his fingertips brushed the edge of Ancom’s mask, on the verge of slipping under. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you with this off…” Tankie said quietly. Ancom sat frozen as qui felt the bottom of qui’s mask lifting ever so slightly and then Tankie pressing the joint to qui’s lips. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A lot has changed since then.” Ancom said after sucking in a hit and pulling the nearly spent joint from qui’s mouth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” Tankie asked softly </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know what I mean- I-“ Tankie stayed quiet for a second, his mouth still hanging open as he thought of a way to properly phrase his thoughts. “I felt like you just left all of the sudden and started doing your own thing- I mean- I didn’t even know you had a whole new family or whatever until like what? A few months ago?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ancom stayed quiet, dark green eyes locking with Tankie’s. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You can always talk to me about- whatever the hell you want, yknow?” Tankie’s hand resting on quis shoulder and that’s when Ancom finally moved, leaning away from Tankie and shrugging his hand off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not something I want to talk about” Ancom said</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do they know?” Tankie added a tilt of his head to the entrance of the carriage. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I- What does that matter? Is this some weird jealousy thing?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well- Of course I’m a little jealous! We were friends- comrades before… and now it feels like you can’t stand talking to me!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I had you come here with me for a </span>
  <em>
    <span>job</span>
  </em>
  <span>, not to be my friend.” Ancom said </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh but you can act all buddy with those other anarchists and whatever, seems like that’s an exception.” Tankie spat at quem</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck is your deal?” Ancom snapped “You used to be such a fucking dick to me about being immature and- well look at you freaking out because I had the ability to fucking- I dunno, move on? Maybe I stopped talking to you because I can’t fucking stand how you treated me like I’m a fucking idiot“ Ancom paused for a moment, reaching under qui’s mask and pinching the bridge of qui’s nose. While they sat in silence, the two of them became awfully aware of how all the noise outside the carriage was gone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shit…” Ancom mumbled “Anpac uh, gets all weird when people argue-“ </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t!- Wait I mean-“ Anarcho Pacifist replied from outside. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to listen in but I felt so bad.” The curtains at the entrance of the cart pulled to the side and Anpac peeked their head in </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know, It’s fine.” Ancom said before waving qui’s hand, gesturing for Anpac to come inside. Anarcho Pacifist did so immediately and crawled next to Ancom before resting their head against qui’s shoulder. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I get that you might feel excluded sometimes but I consider you as much of a friend as I do with everyone else” Anpac said to Tankie, reaching their hand out to gently hold his. “We do care about you. You’re not as isolated from us as you might think”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you…” He said</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure you two can work this out yourselves, I’m sorry for eavesdropping like that. I just wanted to check in and make sure you two were okay” They said, pulling their hand away and starting to move to leave the carriage.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s alright, thank you” Ancom said softly, giving them a little wave as they left. “Goodnight.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Goodnight!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tankie let out a quiet sigh and moved to lie back down, shutting his eyes and covering his face with his arm. He felt Ancom do the same next to him.</span>
  <span></span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re right, I was a dick to you before all of this. I’m sorry” Tankie said </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.” Ancom said “I know you didn’t mean to be rude with that.” Tankie silently nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… I still appreciate you telling me. I didn’t respect you like I should’ve and it’s fair that you got mad about it.” He said. Ancom let out a breath and turned to face him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think this sort of thing would be better to talk about later, when we’re both sober and when it’s not midnight” Qui laughed. Tankie smiled </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re right. I’m starting to get tired anyways.” Tankie said </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Goodnight~”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Goodnight”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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